A gate- and flux-controlled supercurrent diode

TL;DR

This paper presents a monolithic supercurrent diode based on a Dayem bridge SQUID, achieving up to 6% rectification efficiency with tunable polarity and operation up to 70% of the critical temperature, promising for superconducting electronics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel supercurrent diode design using a Dayem bridge SQUID with high tunability and operational temperature range, advancing practical superconducting electronics applications.

Findings

Rectification efficiency up to 6%

Polarity and magnitude tunable via magnetic flux or gate voltage

Operates up to 70% of the critical temperature

Abstract

Non-reciprocal charge transport in supercurrent diodes (SDs) polarized growing interest in the last few years for its potential applications in superconducting electronics (SCE). So far, SD effects have been reported in complex hybrid superconductor/semiconductor structures or metallic systems subject to moderate magnetic fields, thus showing a limited potentiality for practical applications in SCE. Here, we report the design and the realization of a monolithic SD by exploiting a Dayem bridge-based superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). Our structure allows reaching rectification efficiencies ($\eta$) up to about 6%. Moreover, the absolute value and the polarity of $\eta$ can be selected on demand by the modulation of an external magnetic flux or by a gate voltage, thereby guaranteeing high versatility and improved switching speed. Furthermore, our SD operates in a wide range of temperatures up to about the 70% of the superconducting critical temperature of the titanium film composing the interferometer. Our SD can find extended applications in SCE by operating in synergy with widespread superconducting technologies, such as nanocryotrons, rapid single flux quanta (RSFQs) and memories.